Outsource to a Medical Billing Service

When should you outsource to
a medical billing service? It can be a difficult decision to
outsource your billing to a service. It can feel like you are
loosing control of your money, but actually a good medical
billing service can maximize your earning potential and bring
in additional income.

Many times in a medical office the person in charge of the billing
doesn't know enough about medical billing or your specialty to bring in
the maximum allowed. It is also very common for the billing person
to not find the time to chase down unpaid or rejected
claims.

Maybe you are
opening your first practice and want to know what the advantages are of
outsourcing your billing. Some of the things you need to consider are:

How large is your practice going to be?

How many people will
you be able to hire when you start up?

What are the most
important positions to fill first?

Do you have the
investment capital to hire someone to do your medical billing in the
office. If you don't have the money to hire the staff you would like at
the beginning a service may be a good choice for you.

If you're going to start out with just one person helping you with a
variety of jobs, be aware of how much time is required to make sure all
your money is coming in from the insurance companies and patients. Its not
just a matter of sending out a bill. Aging reports must be run and
telephone calls must be made to insurance companies.

Medical billing is a time consuming job. If your employee has to keep the office running
smoothly as well, the billing job always seems to fall by the wayside and
it is much too important a job to let that happen.

If
you're thinking of hiring a medical billing service, be sure to check
into the service before signing. If you prefer to do your billing
in-house, and even if you have someone in mind for the job, be sure to
read
Hiring a Medical
Biller.

Some of the advantages of hiring a medical
billing service when you first open your practice are:

You now have a
professional hired to bring in the money for your services and you don't
have to pay the service until you get paid.

A service will often
help you get credentialed with the appropriate insurance companies in
your area so you will be paid by them for your work. The credentialing
can be an arduous task and they have experience with this.

The service can help
you set up your pricing your services so you are in line with others in
your specialty in your particular area.

They can get the rate
allowances for many procedure codes. This is important information for
you to get started.

A billing service is
much more likely to bring in more money quicker than you can in a busy
office. Even when the waiting room is full of patients and your staff is
running around trying to keep up with everything, your service is still
submitting your claims and calling to check on unpaid claims.

If you
choose a service that specializes in your field, they often have important
knowledge about billing that particular specialty, such as modifiers, and
coding and particular peculiarities about individual insurance companies
that may be beneficial information to you.

If you decide to outsource to a medical billing service, be sure to
choose a service that fits your needs. A medical practice that is just
starting out requires extra attention. You will need credentialing with
insurance companies so that you participate with their plans and are
eligible to be paid by them. And you will be looking for advice in many
areas that a good billing service can help you.